Cara Matthews in Politics on the Hudson reports that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will introduce legislation Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour next year, and tie it to inflation. Currently, New York’s minimum wage is $7.25, the same as the federal minimum wage. "New York’s minimum wage is more than $3 less than what it would be if it had kept pace with inflation in the past four decades, according to the National Employment Law Project Action Fund," Matthews reports. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos' spokesman Scott Reif said Sunday that, “Senate Republicans will continue to promote policies that encourage job growth and make New York a more business-friendly state, just as we did last year partnering with Governor Cuomo.” Read the full story in Politics on the Hudson.